Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD)

[CombJelly]

"if they have to do less work to get their software to run well with Intel processors"

That's the point, though. If what chipdesigner is saying is true, and there are reasons to think that he is, then getting software to run well with Intel processors isn't easier. If the compiler is optimized for SPEC, then you only get easily optimized code when you compile the SPEC suite. For everything else you have to play the "set the flags and test the code" game.

In the early days of the Intel compiler, there were reports that it often wouldn't be able to compile some code properly, it was so optimized for SPEC. I can't vouch for the veracity of this, I've never used the Intel compiler. I do gather that it doesn't have this problem any more, if it ever actually had it...